Brick Breaker

How to play Brick Breaker

Brick Breaker is a fast, single-player arcade classic. A wall of colourful bricks sits at the top of the screen, and you control a paddle along the bottom. Bounce the ball up into the wall to chip it away brick by brick, keeping the ball alive by catching it on the paddle every time it falls. Clear the whole wall and you advance to the next, tougher layout; miss the ball too many times and the game ends. It is easy to pick up in seconds, yet the angles, rebounds and power-ups reward a steady hand and a little planning. Play on Easy to relax, or crank it up to Hard for a real test — every finished game submits a ranked score.

The goal

Destroy every brick on the wall by hitting each one with the ball, then repeat across all five levels without running out of lives. You score points for each brick you break, and the game keeps a running total up to a maximum of 99,999. Higher levels are worth more per brick, so surviving deeper into the run is the key to a big score. If you break every brick on the final level you win outright; if you lose your last ball first, the game is over and your score is recorded.

The playfield

The bricks are arranged in a grid near the top, each in one of several colours. Your paddle sits near the bottom and moves only left and right. A single ball starts resting on the paddle. When you launch it, the ball travels in a straight line until it strikes a wall, a brick or the paddle, then bounces off at a matching angle. The two side walls and the ceiling bounce the ball back into play; only the open floor below the paddle is dangerous — let the ball fall past you and you lose a life.

Controls

• Touch: drag anywhere on the playfield to slide the paddle left and right. The paddle follows your finger smoothly, and tapping the field also launches a ball that is waiting to start.
• Mouse: move the pointer over the playfield and the paddle tracks it. Click to launch the ball or to resume after a pause.
• Keyboard: use the Left and Right arrow keys (or A and D) to move the paddle. Press Space or Enter to launch the ball, and P to pause or resume.
• The New Game button restarts at your chosen difficulty, and the Pause button freezes the action so you can take a breath without losing the ball.

Rules of play

• The ball bounces off the two side walls and the ceiling and keeps its speed. It also bounces off your paddle — but if it slips past the paddle and falls off the bottom of the screen, you lose one life.
• Hitting a brick removes it (tougher grey bricks take two hits) and rebounds the ball. Each brick you destroy adds to your score, and clearing the entire wall advances you to the next level.
• The angle the ball leaves your paddle depends on where it lands: hit it near the centre and it bounces almost straight up; catch it near an edge and it flies off sharply to that side. This is your steering wheel — use it to aim.
• You begin each difficulty with a set number of lives. When you lose the ball, a fresh ball is docked on the paddle and you launch again; when your last life is gone, the game ends.
• There are five hand-made levels of increasing difficulty. The ball speed, your paddle width and your starting lives are all set by the difficulty you choose before the game begins.

Power-ups

Some bricks release a falling capsule when you break them. Slide your paddle underneath to catch it and trigger its effect. Power-ups are optional bonuses — you never need them to win, but they can turn a tricky level around.

• Multi-ball (pink ✦): instantly splits every ball on screen into three, filling the field with extra chances to smash bricks. More balls means faster clears, but also more balls to keep an eye on.
• Wide paddle (teal ↔): stretches your paddle for about ten seconds, making the ball much easier to catch and giving you more surface to steer with. It shrinks back to normal when the time runs out.
• Let a capsule fall past your paddle and nothing happens — you simply miss the bonus. Catching capsules never costs a life, so chase the useful ones when you safely can.

How scoring works

Every brick has a base value between 10 and 60 points depending on its colour, with the sturdier bricks worth the most. When you break a brick you earn its base value multiplied by the current level number, so the same brick is worth twice as much on level 2 and five times as much on level 5. Your total is capped at 99,999. Because deeper levels multiply every brick, the biggest scores come from surviving as far into the run as you can rather than from any single hit. Your best score for each difficulty is saved on your device and, when you are signed in, submitted to the leaderboard.

Strategy tips

• Aim with the paddle, not just your reflexes. Since the bounce angle depends on where the ball hits the paddle, nudge the paddle so the contact point sends the ball exactly where the bricks still are.
• Work the edges. Steering the ball into the side gaps so it climbs the wall from an angle lets it rattle along the top row and clear many bricks in a single trip — far more efficient than pecking from below.
• Try to punch a tunnel up one side. If you can clear a vertical channel to the ceiling, the ball will bounce back and forth above the wall, breaking brick after brick while you rest the paddle.
• Respect the tough grey bricks. They need two hits, so plan to strike them twice and do not count a level as almost cleared until they are gone.
• On Hard the ball is fast and your paddle is small, so keep the paddle roughly under the ball at all times and make small, early adjustments instead of last-second lunges.

Frequently asked questions